The blue digger ...

I recall reading the book "The Little Yellow Digger" to our two older boys at least a hundred times when they were kids. I think our youngest son lost out due to digger fatigue. The book by Betty Gilderdale chronicles the tale of a little yellow excavator that gets stuck in mud. At the risk of spoiling the storyline for everyone, increasingly larger diggers are sent to save the yellow digger, but they all end up stuck too. In the end the yellow digger manages to free itself and then save all the other diggers. Described in these terms, you wonder what the charm of the book was (apart of course from the killer rhythms in the writing).

You can forgive my scepticism then of all diggers and particularly the blue one that arrived at Cracroft Farm a few days ago to do a bit of re-arranging for us. Let's face it there just aren't enough syllables in blue for the digger to be taken seriously.  But, wow, was I mistaken. They say that art comes in many forms and Jim, the digger operator, can only be described as an artist. He is able to visualise how things will look and implement that vision using the excavator arm, at times with breathtaking brutality at times with an infinite delicacy. 

What he achieved in several days has to be seen to be believed, The most dramatic bit of work was around the shed where the slope was falling away and there was a huge pile of rubble in the form of massive rocks at the bottom of the slope. A morning's work and the slope was repaired and a beautiful retaining wall of rocks created.

 

Before

After

Then it was on to the back of shed to help the plumber prepare the site for our two big water tanks that will be arriving soon. 

During

After

After digging the trenches the area was backfilled and smoothed so well that Pepper couldn't find the bone she had buried the day before. She had to settle for a piece of wood instead.

The work done by Jim over several days has completely revolutionised the feel of the property. From constructing a road down the eastern boundary for access to the lower paddocks, to delicately plucking out the poles of fences previously demolished by Cath, Jim the digger man used our property as his canvas and wove a work of art. 

I am now completely converted and looking for a new copy of "The Little Yellow Digger", which I promise to read (repeatedly, with gusto and complete conviction) to any little folk who visit here  ....